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Wales weather: Will there be snow this Christmas?

BBC Sabrina LeeBBC
Will we get snow this Christmas? BBC Wales weather presenter Sabrina Lee says it can be tricky to forecast due to minor changes in temperature making all the difference

If you're dreaming of a white Christmas, you may not want to get your hopes up just yet.

The current forecast for Wales indicates mild, damp and breezy conditions.

At the moment, the greatest chance of snow in the UK is over the Scottish Highlands.

But, as always, the forecast will continue to change, with over a week to go until the big day.

When was the last official white Christmas?

The definition the Met Office uses for a white Christmas is for one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25 December anywhere in the UK.

Traditionally, it used to use a single location in the country to define a white Christmas, which was the Met Office building in London. But the number of locations increased to include sites across the UK, such as the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

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Technically, 2022 was the last white Christmas in the UK, with 9% of stations recording snow falling.

But none reported any snow lying on the ground.

Granddadscott A Weather Watcher photograph of a frosty landscape, with a dog walking across the foregroundGranddadscott
Weather Watcher Granddadscott from Llanbister, Powys, sent a wintry scene to the BBC last month

The last widespread white Christmas was in 2010 when there was snow on the ground at 83% of stations - the highest amount ever recorded - and snow or sleet also fell at 19% of stations.

The deepest recorded snow on a Christmas day in Wales was 45cm (17.7 in) at Cae Poeth, Gwynedd, also in 2010.

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